What’s the trick or treat status in your neighborhood? Is it spooky fun and treats galore, stopping at every door?
Not every child grows up in a Halloween-friendly neighborhood. Trick or treat can actually end up being kinda beat for various reasons.
One, maybe you live on a main road with no sidewalks. No place for costumed kids to cluster together, go knocking on doors, and scatter safely.
Two, perhaps the people in your neighborhood just aren’t into Halloween. If you live in an area which is mostly inhabited by working people who don’t have children, this is likely the case.
Your town might be a rural town with no sidewalks anywhere. For a decent trick or treat experience, you may have to pile everyone into the mom minivan in search of better candy pickins for your little boos and ghouls.
What types of neighborhoods deliver the best trick or treat bang for your Halloween buck?
Towns where the homes are close together.
This yields more doors to knock on, and therefore more treats, per square yard. Think about it, huge sprawling properties might mean people are more likely to give out full size candy bars… maybe. But you’re still getting less trick or treat enjoyment overall. So scope out the friendly neighborhoods of small towns or sections of bigger cities where homes are just a few steps away from one another.
Neighborhoods located near a school.
Usually a school will be stationed in close proximity to a neighborhood where lots of families live. This means more enthusiasm for Halloween and trick or treating as a general policy.
Areas where you can target older homes.
Historic and haunted go hand in hand. People who live in older homes generally love to deck them out for the season, and that includes Halloween. You’ll typically see lots of spooky lights and effects if you venture into a neighborhood of homes built before 1975 or so.
Better still if the homes are from the ’40s and ’30s Depression period, and 1800s Victorian era. The types of people who would buy and live in homes like these are naturally predisposed to loving Halloween. Don’t believe it? Do a drive-by in October after the sun goes down and tell me what you see in your various local neighborhoods.
Communities where older and retired people live.
Venture into towns where lots of older and retired people live. Grandmas and grandpas love to give out treats to all the little ones. You’ll be making their Halloween and giving the kids a thrill with lots of overflowing candy baskets and plenty of spooky fun. This excludes 50-plus adult only communities of course.
What’s the best strategy for scoping out top notch trick or treating?
Plan ahead. If you aren’t sure where to go, take a drive at around 8:00 p.m. in mid-October. Look for well decorated houses, festooned with lots of lights and pumpkins.
You can be sure that these folks will be Halloweening it to the hilt! While you’re at it, search out parking. This way, when the night of spookiness arrives, you won’t be dealing with impatient trick-or-treaters making lots of noise in the backseat.
Happy Halloween, everybody!